This is definitely one of those posts I wish I’d written and posted when it happened a few weeks ago. It was during my 10 Day immersion in the poetry world and there was no spare time. This is a copy of a social media message sent around the right time – I think the over-use of the exclamation mark sums up how ecstatic I was.
A fabulous launch – really good fun! Loved hearing you breathing life into the women between these pages! Delighted to hold a really copy! CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks for asking me to read. 
I cannot wait for the next one! x
It was a wonderful sunny afternoon when we took off to the city of Worcester to celebrate success with Charley. 
There are three factors that made this launch an incredibly exciting time for me;
- Knowing about the conception of the project and secretly knowing it was to be published by Black Pear Press. Charley and I went through the publishing process at the same time and were there for each other throughout.
- This was the first book I was asked to endorse, along with Luke Kennard. It always will be the first book I endorsed.
- Charley asked me (along with Claire Walker, Polly Stretton & Alan Durham) to read at the launch.
Besides all that I would have been excited anyway. Launches are like birthdays, I always get just as enthusiastic for others as I do for my own.
Book Launch, Drummonds Bar, Worcester, 7th May 4pm
It was fun preparing my set and I was able to use the bounty of my NaPoWriMo poems, some with small rewrites.
Polly went first, much to our delight, (the pressure of kicking off the event) and as the publisher (part of the Black Pear Press) it seemed fitting.
I was up next followed in the second half by Claire Walker and Alan Durham. Everyone produced fine sets and performances were top notch.
There was cake, chocolate cake, friends, family & conversation. Perfectly timed with enough space to chat and mingle, hear each other perform and enjoy Charley choosing pieces and talking about the story behind the short stories.
It was simply a lovely, Sunday afternoon. Having resisted the temptation to pre-order my copy, I was happy to queue up and buy my perfectly bound edition of The Women You Were Warned About. I savoured every moment of watching (or trying not to watch) Charley sign it.
I loved the atmosphere of pride and celebration that held the room together, beyond words to watch this happen right before my eyes. There were plenty of faces I recognised and people I knew who had come to celebrate with Charley and on such a sunny day too. Fabulous room full of people all eager to find out just what those warnings were.
I loved listening to and watching the audience reaction to the collection of answers. Charley completed the event with a brave Q & A. Some of the points are still being discussed, weeks later, now that’s how to get a book to linger!
You can buy a copy here
https://blackpear.net/2017/05/08/c-s-barnes-launches-first-book/
C.S. Barnes is a Worcestershire-based writer and poet who is
currently working towards her doctorate in Creative Writing.
While Barnes’s interests initially lay exclusively in poetry, her
academic studies have seen her experiment with other styles of
writing—namely the short story—and, as part of her current
degree, Barnes is now working on her first full-length novel.
Alongside her writing endeavours Barnes is also a creative writing
tutor. She has worked with primary and secondary school
students, all the way through to the undergraduate students at her
own university, where she has been tutoring for the past two
years.
The Women You Were Warned About: Answers to Absent Questions,
is Barnes’s first full-length publication and, after having so much
fun with the women contained within these stories, she sincerely
looks forward to the possibility of working with such hideous
women again in the future.© 2017 BLACK PEAR PRESS
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The story of the first ten years of The Antipoet, told in the inimitable style of Paul Eccentric. Published by Black Pear Press.
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